Globaliser, it does seem that both situations are very close to the line. But neither really across it, I suppose.
In the first case, you will never know whether the bag's on your flight or has been sent on ahead;
Generally true. In specific cases, whenever I travel from the US west coast to the US east coast (where I live), the bag has arrived before me in every instance for the last 1 1/2 years. I head down to bag claim where I find my suitcase sitting just outside the door of the Bag Office.
Second case is quite understandable that I would not have known I was getting bumped (was hoping, as it meant switching from an ERJ145 to a 738), but still goes against the "Bag can not travel without the Pax" mantra. Of course, if I was a suicidal maniac, then it wouldn't matter if I was on the plane or not. (I don't remember if the bomber was on the Pan Am flight over Scotland; was he?)
Spork, I have often worried that my bag would go on walkabout before I got there. As it has happened regularly in the last couple years, I feel pretty lucky. It's a pretty short flight from this airline's hub to my location, so I know it's not going far afield, but I have worried about someone else picking up the bag. So far the only thing to disappear during my travels (knock wood) has been a Gillette Mach 3 Turbo shaver (go figure!).
And I guess I'm lucky that I travel so much out of my particular airport. I've gotten to know most of the desk personnel and TSA agents around these parts, so I usually get the speedy treatment.
